Photo Gallery

Why Are Some Diesels Illegal?

Euro-diesels are very efficient, burning less fuel and therefore putting out less carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. The problem is NOx (which produces smog,) and particulate matter (which emits carcinogenic particles.)Read: Guide to Diesel Vehicles

If you crave high gas mileage but aren’t a stickler about low emissions, then a European diesel-powered car will beat out a hybrid any day. The only problem: They are illegal in the US.

That’s mostly because Europe’s high-mpg diesels lack the sophisticated and pricey after-treatment systems required to meet the latest US emissions standards. And carmakers have been unwilling to make them legal by passing emission and safety regulations, and marketing cars that are small but relatively expensive.

Ever since the Ford Fiesta’s unveiling at the British International Motor Show in July 2008, we’ve been eager to get a close look at the sporty subcompact five-seater—the most fuel-efficient car available in the UK.

Ford Fiesta ECOnetic – 65 MPG

Ford achieved the impressive 65-mpg via aerodynamic body styling, lowered suspension, and low resistance tires. Extensive use of high strength steels and a focus on cutting weight also reduced the mass of the new Fiesta—despite improved safety equipment and sound insulation.

We’ll have to wait to get behind the wheel of the Fiesta diesel, but we did get our hands on a 2007 Audi A6 TDI and a 2006 Smart ForTwo CDI for the weekend. We took the A6 for a 500-mile high-speed joy ride through the fields and hills of upstate New York. How was the fuel efficiency? 39 miles per gallon—impressive for a midsize luxury sports sedan with crisp styling, lots of electronic frills, and the torque of a freight train.

Audi A6 TDi – 39 MPG

The big A6 diesel was a delight to fling around the two-lane country roads between Woodstock and Ithaca. The Quattro all-wheel-drive kept the car firmly on line through corners despite spirited driving—and the car tracked straight regardless of speed, road surface, or side winds. Noise isn’t an issue; inside the Audi, you’d barely know it’s an oil burner. Outside, the idling is deeper and clankier, but it’s nowhere near the garbage truck rattle of older diesels.

Smart ForTwo Brabus CDI – 71 MPG

We were less impressed with another Euro-diesel we tested—despite the 71 mpg promised by Smart. The 2006 Smart ForTwo Brabus CDI is a semi-hot-rodded version of the standard diesel Smart sold in Europe. It had a number of nice upgrades over the standard Smart—a glass roof, leather seats, even an aero kit—but the Brabus CDI just crept away from stoplights before the turbo spooled up to boot it forward. We had to “row” the car with the paddle shifters—fun and sporty if you’re up for it, but tedious for hours of city driving. Unfortunately, our short tenure with the Smart didn’t let us test mileage, but hopefully it delivers as promised because the tank holds only 6 gallons.

Our wish list of high-mpg contraband includes these three 60-plus-mpg machines that put US hybrids to shame in the fuel efficiency department. If it weren’t for the problem of diesel emissions…

SEAT Ibiza Ecomotive – 62 MPG

In late 2007, Spanish automaker SEAT, a subsidiary of Volkswagen, introduced the Ibiza Ecomotive, its most economical, least polluting production model to date. The SEAT Ibiza has adequate pep, hitting 60 mph in 12.8 seconds. The particulate filter and an exhaust gas recirculation system make the Ibiza one of the cleanest-running cars on sale in Europe—still not good enough for US standards.

Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion – 62 mpg

In 2006, VW introduced the Polo Bluemotion, which uses a modified version of the 3-cylinder 1.4-liter TDI diesel engine to produce the same power output found in the conventional Polo—but with increased fuel efficiency to about 60 mpg. In the most recent release, Volkswagen managed to squeeze out an additional 2 mpg, by optimizing the engine and fine-tuning the aerodynamics. With the better fuel efficiency, the Polo BlueMotion’s CO2 emissions dropped to 99 g/km. Its 0 – 60 performance matches that of the SEAT Ibiza.

MINI Cooper D – 60+ mpg

The diesel-powered MINI Cooper D forces the other fuel-sipping diesels to the slow lane. This car can hit 60 mph in less than 10 seconds, while maintaining the US equivalent between 60 and 70 mpg. Automotive News, the trade publication, managed 74-mpg on their test run. This car also uses stop-start technology to shut down the engine when it comes to a stop. With its cute looks, zippy performance, and great handling, the MINI Cooper D would be a winner in America, but BMW would have to use more advanced emissions controls to bring it to all 50 states in the US.

February sales of 1,023 Chevrolet Volts placed the extended-range electric car as the tenth best selling

Shines

Hmm, maybe our diesel polution standards are a bit too high.
I’d love to commute to work in that Fiesta ECOnetic.

Paul Beerkens

How come that the country that is the largest polluter in the world (at least per head of population) has emission standards that allows a hummer but not these 60+ MPG cars?

This stinks.

Max Reid

All these cars look great and they are good too compared to our Tahoe’s, Expedition’s, Sequioa’s and Armada’s. We better lower Diesel emission standards and bring them in.

But Diesel is $1/gallon more here and can anyone explain why Diesel is expensive.
I know that Diesel in Europe is subsidized. So what is the actual cost of Diesel.
Is it really expensive to make Diesel.

Anonymous

I could not find a website that clearly defined the implications of the difference between USA and Europe standards. There’s various sites that talk about different CO requirements, different NOx requirements, etc. In the USA, we have catalytic converters to reduce CO. I’m not sure what else we do to meet our standards, or why that means lower gas mpg. And, why can’t these high MPG euro cars be converted into USA cars with a reasonable hit in the MPG? There’s some talk that Europeans loose forests due to their “lax”standards, their life expectancies are over a year shorter, etc.

The things that need to be explored are what does it take to get Euro cars compliant, how important is that vs less CO2 (lower MPG cars would have more CO2)? Anyone have a website/resource on this?

Editor

Okay, for those who want a detailed answer about what the consideration for bringing European cars to the US, here goes:

Federalizing a vehicle for US sale is relatively easy if it’s designed from the onset to be sold here, but taking an existing model and getting it ready for US sale is fairly complex; I believe the Ford folks itemized something like 60 significant changes that needed to be made (to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars) just to get them ready for here. In addition to emissions issues, there are safety ones since (which may or may not be significant to any real safety concerns, much like the emissions differences) the testing process is different. There are also a bunch of idiosyncratic differences; stuff that the auto industry has been trying to make common for years–to no avail. Then there’s also the Japanese market, which has its own standards, which have kept imports to a minimum for decades. In most of the rest of the world, China, India, etc., the standards aren’t what keep imports out–it’s price, usually fed by import tariffs to product home grown industries.

Regarding the specific models in this article:
Fiesta–I think it was designed to meet US specs except for the diesel engine. They could probably drop the current Focus engine in it and bring it over, which I think are in Ford’s plans.
Seat–Not designed for US export so it would need a total overhaul to be brought here.
Polo–VW has talked about bringing the Polo over, but has balked because of concerns about the US commitment to small, high-efficiency cars. That tells me the car is probably very close to US spec, although the engine would probably take some work to get ready for export.
Mini–a different case since the car is US spec. The engine is all that would be needed to be certified. Since it’s (I believe) a Peugeot engine, that could be more complicated since PSA doesn’t export any of its products to the US.

Two philosophies are out there among the auto companies–only bring vehicles over that can be sold in all 50 states, or try to sell in the 45 non-CA emissions states (about 75 percent of the market). BMW is leading the charge of the former, which would mean the Mini wouldn’t come over until it met CA emissions. I think the trend now is to aim for the tougher emissions since the CA and NY markets represent such a key target for imported cars. All US emissions laws are tougher than EU5 emissions although at EU6 (I think that kicks in after 2010-11) they start to equalize — unless CA goes to LEV III (SULEV as baseline for all cars).

The marketing question is also quite significant. As you could see from Daimler’s several year hesitation about bringing over the Smart (remember it was in Canada and Mexico for at least two years before it made it here), the automaker’s consideration of whether the market is truly interested in a particular vehicle or segment plays into the decisions. Along with that are market size considerations, etc. The decisions are ones involving significant financial risk, which is why the automakers deliberate so much, then they’re complicated because of the technical work involved, so typically it is a couple years before a model can migrate over, even assuming it was designed to meet US market specs. One benchmark is the Japanese, who always introduce their new international models in their home market first, then roll out to the US and EU. That gives them more time to tailor them to the overseas markets based on early reviews at home.

I hope this helps. HybridCars.com tries to make our articles accessible, which usually means leaving a lot of these details out. Thanks.

There you will see that there are only 4 tiny european diesels that just barely beat the Prius (and Civic) hybrid in CO2 emissions. No cars anywhere close to the size of the Prius (“Midsize” in the US, “Large Family Car” in Europe) come anywhere close to it in terms of CO2.

So why is that?
Diesel contains 15 % more energy (i.e. carbon) than gasoline. Therefore, a diesel car MPG must be 15 % higher than a gasoline car to have lower CO2.
Hybrids ARE truly more efficient, and also produce much less NOx, particulates, etc.

Jay

I can not share the excitement about the Diesel cars. Firstly, these are all mini-sized cars – the way you have not seen in the US. If the Prius would be built that small it would outperform all of them. Second, the CO2 emission of Diesel is 13.5% higher than with normal gas. Why is this not said thoroughout all the article. Thirdly, keep in mind, that the above Diesel cars still give out cancerogenous particles. Why would anybody be keen on this. Have you ever been on an intersection in Europe? Have you ever been breathing the air we have? Have you the same 60000 people that annualy day from the smallest particle dirt in part issued by Diesel?
Be a little bit more proud of your government. It did the right thing.

Bill

We need to move away from pollutants/gallon and move to pollutants/mile. If we did this, my guess is that all of these cars would pass…

crookmatt

So did these guys make the all to often mistake of forgetting that Imperial gallons are not the same as US Gallons?

1 Imperial Gallon = 1.2009 US Gallons

Therefore 65 UK mpg Ford Fiesta is the same as 54 US mpg not 65 mpg–still really good, but common people, how often do we need to be reminded of simple UK to US gallon conversions?

It’s starting to become a pet peeve of mine, does anyone else in the world realize that UK gallons are not the same as US gallons?

Bill 2

Diesels are noisy. Get rid of them.

JH

Here is the thing imperial or standard US …. it does nto matter there is not reason to push manufacturers to bring those cars here. Why?? Our gas tax is tiny compared to Europe. Start taxing @ $0.50 a gallon and raise it to $1.00 in 2 years…..

We should force Ford to make those $100′s of thousands of dollars of changes – why? We are pumping $15 BILLION into the auto industry – if they are given garbage requirements – then we will continue to get garbage cars and vaporware….

Dom

It is embarrassing that we can buy monster gas guzzlers that are sooo much worse than these “illegal” diesels all things considered. These diesels are even as clean or cleaner than our gasoline cars of just a few years ago. I’ve been to France (which has a very large percent of diesel cars), and the air is fine. And Europe’s safety standards are fine too. There is really no good reason to keep these cars out. It’s a shame they can’t be sold here due to our government’s silly policies.
Oh, and diesels are not loud “Bill 2″. What’s loud is a ten year old gasoline car that’s on its last cylinder.
One thing that no article can convince people of is how much more fun a diesel car is to drive, even the small ones. A driver doesn’t have to baby it or drive like grandma to get great mileage. I’d challenge all the naysayers to go take one for a test drive.

Cody Sawyers

It isn’t harder to make diesel. The reason for the high pricing is the same reason our gas prices were so high only a month ago. The so-called “supply-and-demand” for diesel isn’t there, therefore our diesel isn’t subsidized like Europe’s diesel is. As for the differences between US and European standards for cars it reaches into things as pathetic as the spare tire size and the mechanical make-up of the catalytic converters.

wxman

Diesel fuel does contain more carbon per unit volume, but it produces less CO2 emissions during refining.

The true WTW CO2 emissions of diesel fuel is a little over 6% greater, 25.8 pounds per gallon of diesel, 24.2 pounds per gallon of gasoline.

Peter

Do American manufacturers, domestic or transplant, even want to bring this technology here? I have doubts, based on their lack of effort with EPA and lack of effort to lobby big oil about diesel supply here versus gasoline. Why would they not want to have these products here?

Our available fleet struggles to top low thirties mpg for typical affordable daily family cars, while Europe doubles the number. What is wrong with this picture? Why would we prefer exotic and expensive hybrid technology over proven, cheaper, and probably more durable diesel technology? Maybe someone can make a stab at explaining us to me…..

Bill

So to hammer home my point, using wxmans numbers, a gas car getting 30 mpg would add 80 2/3 pounds where the diesel getting 60 mpg would only add 43. Seems to me like we would be better with the diesel

Anonymous

I would love to buy a diesel to use instead of my pickup for daily use. I highly doubt that the dirtiest of these vehicles puts out nearly the same amount of pollution as my truck getting 14mpg. And the next person to complain about them being noisy or smelly, should go to a VW dealer and test a TDI. I’m hesitant to buy one (and there’s about a 4 month wait for the sportwagen I want), but my only other choice is.. well actually there isn’t another choice.

Lhoward

One nice option with diesel engines is that one can consider biofuels in addition to or instead of diesel fuel. Those cars can run on used cooking oil. I don’t know about the emissions, and there are some limitations but it seems like a nice idea to be able to use the oil that that is usually dumped down the sink to run a car for a while.

Imagine how much money a restaurant could save on delivery using its old vegetable oil.

FYI Diesel is NOT subsidised in Europe. It’s taxed at an extremely high rate, just like regular petrol/gasoline is – a litre of Diesel in the UK is about 1.10 GBP currently ($2) – very roughly, $8 / US Gallon. I believe you guys pay around half of that?

Diesel is taxed at a slightly higher rate than petrol in the UK, as the MPG rating is higher (it’s a leveller to make diesel and petrol about the same price). As far as I’m aware the cost of producing diesel is exactly the same as making petrol (both use fractional distillation)

Raj

We in the US pay about $2 per US Gallon of petrol.
I really beleive its the speed limits which is causing the less milege. My Scion xA gives about 45 mpg if I drive at 45mph on highway (risking a ticket). If I drive at the stupid arse limits of 65 MPG I get about 29Mpg. With this example I’d say if the US govt reduces speed limits we can all get atleast 20% more mileage. We have to look at US govt to reduce limits because it is not legal to drive below 15 miles to speed limit on US Highways.
Look at AAA articles (ignored by Gas gaints lobby) to understand lower speeds give more mileage.

Europeans are taxed from their butt to mouth with taxes. We should all be glad we are not taxed similarly in the US (Diesel vehicles or not).

Did you notice that most cars in Europe advertise a green jone (speed limit) where their cars give optimum mileage and cars in US dont….

European governments want their citizens to drive more )and put more Co2 into the air) so they can collect their hefty taxes and thus have lower emission standards.
US govt wants its citizens to burn more gas so their Gas zars will continue paying them money for lobby and thus have higher emission standards.

Craig

Believe Me, I have done a ton of research on this subject, (NOX, NOH3, etc) diesel cars are far cleaner,safer more efficient than gasoline vehicles (beside the fact that diesel contains no benzine or toluol) it boils down to “strange bedfellows” in Congress.
US Congressman Joe Barton wrote the Energy Policy
in 2005 that drove all the European Diesels off shore (just one of a long line of oil controlled
policies). Barton (a Texas Republican known as “Smokey Joe”) has been under the wing of big oil for years, his staff are all from Atlantic Richfield Oil …..

jason

Bingo Craig.. You know you can run a diesel off of normal vegetable oil provided you heat the fuel tank and lines (which can be done in an afternoon). Imagine dumping a gallon of Vege oil in the tank after doing your grocery shopping and driving almost a week on it…. people really need to open their eyes, say screw the corrupt officials and bypass their BS by going vege!.. not to mention it’s better for your engine than diesel too…

russ

In the US people complain about 3 dollar per US gallon gas.

In most of Europe the cost per US gallon is above 10 US dollars – makes people very interested in consumption. Diesel is slightly less in most cases – maybe 5 to 10%

I love the comments by people who suggest the emissions standards are too tight in the US – they are only getting more strict so get used to it.

Europe is the place they love to talk about the world environment (since they screwed up theirs so well) but the Euro governmental actions are kind of on the iffy side.

russ

To those of you who want to use old veggie oıl – welcome to do it. I don’t think you will do it twice.

Just stay away from my Mercedes Van with a TDI diesel engine! This is a full size Viano van.

It gets about 23 miles per US gallon – is as quiet as any gas engine – drives the same or better – has great pickup

Mark Flury

Max,

Diesel isn’t subsidised in Europe, not least here in the UK where it was (until recently) more expensive than standard unleaded petrol/gas.

Diesel is currently £1.09 a litre at my local service station and standard unleaded is the same price. An annual car tax (called ‘road fund licence’, commonly known as a ‘tax disc’, displayed in your windscreen/windshield), here in the UK is based on (for newer cars) their CO2 emissons.

Cars such as the Toyota Pruis pay nothing, but large 4 wheel drives pay £415 a year (roughly US$ 600 a year) for their licence.

Europeans have always tended to buy small cars as 80% of the price of fuel is tax and as i’ve mentioned the annual payment is lower if your vehicle is fuel-efficient.

The 2nd hand value of those big 4X4′s plummeted as the oil price shoots up. The only thing to be said about diesel 4X4 versions is they may allow them to get into the low teens as far as mpg goes.They are still too big and too thirsty.

They are used as posing tools in fashionable locations by the more pretentious and ‘fashionable’ drivers, or should I say ‘fashion victims’.

You see one person driving around a narrow city street with a ‘car’ that weighs 2.5 tons: so big they cannot reverse into a parking space that a more odest car would easily fit into.

I don’t feel any sympathy for them: they bought something completely impractical.

frenchGuy

I live around Paris and 70% of our cars are diesels: this is becoming a huge problem in terms of pollution (esp. NOx), none of these cars have a DeNOx and the NOx + the particules are becoming a huge threat for public health (causing respiratory disease to children and elderlies in the tens of thousands).

I have sold my diesel car an am waiting delivery of a new hybrid car. I won’t be saving money on gas because diesel is cheaper than gas in France, but I know I won’t be killing my nephews and nieces by driving my diesel in cities.

Briain

Hi
Just thought I’d give my 2 cents. Diesel has lower Co2 levels good for environment but higher NoX bad for people then petrol cars. Personally I much prefer them great levels of torque and power with good mpg. Emission laws are very odd. European emissions laws for motorbikes mean that companies replacing carburetor bikes for fuel injected bikes are seeing about a 20% drop in fuel efficiency, How this is of real environmental benefit is beyond me. I think pollution per mile is a good Idea. Because the environmental cost of producing these hybrids is much greater then that of standard petrol or diesel cars.

MattP

OK, it seems a lot of comments are based from the US which have little knowledge of legislation outside its borders. I guess that’s decades of Bush foreign policy for you.

Euro diesel standards have focussed on difference aspects of emissions. By lowering CO2 and reducing fuel consumption, all exhaust gases are reduced including PM10s and NOx. With truck Euro standards, some emissions increase slightly with CO2 reduction, but it is very small.

Bluetec urea additives and EGR and PM10 traps are a common feature on latest diesels. However, the reason that the US does not let these vehicles in is because of US protectionism.

Euro cars are way ahead of US vehicles in many categories, because our roads and cities are very different from the US, because they are far older, and not designed for an automotive bias.

Big is not better. The idea that massive machines protect people better died out in Europe decades ago but the US has not caught on to this, hence why the Big Three have gone to the wall – only Canada and Australia bulk purchase US vehicles, because both countries think 15mpg (imperial) is OK.

These countries are huge, have wide city streets and long straight roads. I’ve driven a US car in the UK and it’s like a bread van on an ice rink. The road holding was diabolical, and its 3.5 litre engine was out of the 1960s.

Huge diesels used in big trucks and SUVs in the US are decades out of date compared to Europe. Of course few Americans leave the US so they are none the wiser. As long as extreme protectionism remains, no EU manufacturer will import into the US, and all Americans will suffer for it.

The ‘legislation’ has been abused to restrict imports, it has little to do with how clean they are.

Think about this for a moment – a US 4 litre diesel with PM10 reduction will still spew out more cr@p than a EU 1.8 litre CDI engine with no PM10 trap. The US engine consumes at least four times the fuel for the same distance.

For decades the US EPA has been battling congress who have a ‘shared interest’ with US auto makers.

You’ve been ripped off for years.

Craig

Because the Hummer gas engine meets EPA requirements and the other cars diesel engines don’t. The US diesel requirements are about 600% more stringent than Europe’s new clean diesel standards. If you want current technology high mpg diesel cars in the US then don’t support the government over regulation which has prevented all Americans from enjoying economical high mileage cars.

Hans

The only reason these shitty little cars are sold in Europe is because our socialistic governments force them on people due to overtaxing fuel and everything else. This makes standard of living in Europe much worse than in the US. It has continued for so long that few people aspire to bigger and better things, thus the attitude “those Americans and their stupid big cars”. The real reason is that people do not really have a choice unless they can afford paying a stupid amount of money for it. Sell Hemi Challengers for $30K here along with 50% cheaper gas and they’d be all over the place even with our smaller paychecks. Heck, I’d buy a Silverado Crew Cab Dually for a daily driver without the protectionism we have.

James p.

I agree with Hans, I think we should be happy with what the American government has decided to do with our cars. We should feel free to drive bigger cars because we have earned it.

The only thing I do not agree with is the fact that the US government has not put much money into the funding or Hydrogen-fuel cars, these engines are still in the running and aren’t far from making it, why aren’t we focused on these? They hardly have emission problems to fight over and can be made bigger with no problem.

In my opinion the US can take 2 different routes to less emissions in the US and better MPG (different for electric and hydrogen) but overall if US government puts money into either hydrogen fuel or electric/hybrids we can go down that road and stop with the gasoline use all together. OR a mixture of both Hydrogen/Electric. We need to re-shape our country if any of these 2 things can happen with outlets for electric cars and gas stations turned into hydrogen stations. The plus of hydrogen only being it can run bigger cars/trucks/buses which are needed still for US life. If this is done emission problems will be done and gasoline will be no longer needed. For a better cleaner America and World.

Dan3

French guy your an idiot, Bill 2 your an idiot,
Diesels are the best period

dieseltom

James p
hahahahaha happy with the US gov (which is just a puppet admin for the Globalists). And you’ve earned it by driving a big POS.
Hybrids are shite. Face it they still use an outdated spark ignition engine as well as cumbersome batteries.
Mate if you want hydrogen go to Iceland

Chelsea

puppet government for the globalists

Chelsea

I agree diesels arent good

Dantheman

People listen get a Diesel powered Royal Enfield, gets 150mpg US

David

One simple answer, We have retards in Government.

David

From what I am told. Diesel fuel is much easier to produce.

rea-soning

It’s my guess that the auto industry has something going on with the fuel producers in the US. Keep the mileage to a minimum and profits at a maximum.

bart

Hi

I have driven gasolines and diesel cars for many years, in the US and Europe, and yes some statements above are correct others are dubious.
-Emission per mile is the only thing that counts, the it is the thing we forget to count in the discussions above. It should also include the car and fuel production ad transportation emission.
-Diesel fuel in Europe contained less sulfur than the US diesel, that distorts picture but current regulation puts them at par US, 15ppm, EU 10ppm, see http://wapedia.mobi/en/Low_sulfur_diesel
-The smell & noise issue is valid only for people who have only seen old technology diesels such as used in US trucks. Yes those exist in EU old diesels too.
-Oh diesels need a lot less horsepower to have the good torque one needs and that means you should not compare a 150HP diesel with a 150P gasoline
-In some European countries diesel fuel is taxed less than gasoline, never subsidized. Countries like Switzerland do the opposite.
-The urea enhanced diesel is as clean as just about any gasoline car, diesel hybrid anyone.
-But want to drive fast, burn rubber, nothing is more fun than a gasoline car.

Yes it would be nice if the markets became less protectionist, and taxes were same for all types of fuel, or based on emission per energy. That way we consumers could drive what makes sense. You’d start seeing more diesel in the US for sure, and likely less in some European countries.

Online Traffic School

Try to move toward petrol cars and avoid noisy pollutant cars like………………… i think every on can guess

mike john

we have various vegetable oil for biodiesel production such as waste vegetable oil,palm oil,corn oil,sunflower oil,used cooking oil,rapeseed oil.

Actually diesel is cheaper to produce than gasoline and actually if the engine we have were made to combust more completely, diesel engines would give off less emissions too. Our government puts a high tax on diesel, which in my opinion is only a ruse to get more money in their pockets, which in turn makes it look like diesel is a bad option. I wonder how far the People of America will let this lie run?

joe Black

who cares what the fuel tax is? if i can get a car that gets 65 mpg bring it on. There is a guy in Georgia that replaces car engines with tractor diesel engines and gets 50 to 60 mpg. Dont you folks get it, the Gov and the oil industry depend on these millions of gallons of fuel being consumed, The Gov collects fuel tax, the oil company’s collect more revenue. Just like milk my grandmother would take 1 gal of whole milk mix 1 gal of water and have 2 gallons but the dairy farmer did not like that.

ted

We in the US will NEVER see anything like these great cars over here because our government has both hands in the OIL cookie pot!

Les

sad part is, it strikes me as funny, that when I look at all the black smoke and soot that shoots from trucks and buses that run on diesel, I wonder why would the standards for diesel cars be so high…. as well as the increased taxes on diesel fuel, it costs less to produce than gasoline, supposedly pollutes less, no emission tests like what is done on gasoline cars.

Les

off topic slightly, but if mileage were the only issue, it would be as easy or easier to modify even smaller vehicles with a wider selection of gears in the transmission, like on many or the larger suvs and trucks that have 6 or 7 forward gears and if they happen to be rear wheel drive, how about the 2 speed rear ends (or more than 2)

Les

Not just both hands but up to their elbows…. taxing all aspects of it from drilling and pumping from the ground or importing it from else where, to the refining, shipping and sale of finished product and on the vehicles that use it, as well as the insurance on said vehicles and license and registration.

Baffler

I buy used crap to get to work.
If i could get 60+ Mpg in a new Ford I would be buying one.

I use to have a 1981 diesel VW Rabbit.
I pine for those days i could get 60 mpg.
Oh diesel then was 1.03 per us gallon
About 10 dollars to fill once or twice a MONTH
hehehe

The bad was
noisy
ugly
smelly
no frills
0 to 60 in Hahaha

Probably a lot has changed 30 years later

Baffler

Oh I forgot to mention i have a 1967 olds 442
Just because

The bad
10 Mpg

The good
Pure Muscle fun
It outweighs the bad

I cry inside when I run through a tank of gas on the weekend and I need 20 more gallons @ $3.50 a gallon

Ff

Ur a retard diesels are better at mpg and they last 20 times longer diesels are way better then gas cars dumbass.

Baffler

I did not know you knew me, however i will reiterate!
If i could get 60+ Mpg in a new Ford I would be buying one.
“Thought it was obvious” Ford Fiesta ECOnetic – 65 MPG
Probably a lot has changed 30 years later
I.E. Cleaner, Quieter, Faster, More Frills
Oh in case you did not understand let me make it clear.
I want a 60+ MPG Diesel here in the USA!

Carl

We drove a diesel Audi Q5 in Germany last spring. It was fantastic and we drove for hours without the fuel gauge moving. I have to believe the increased mileage would more than offset any emission concerns, as noted by others here.

I believe the real reason we don’t have them is gas prices. Our gas is relatively cheap, so folks don’t care. But US gas is about to permanently move above $5 a gallon, and then the dynamics will change.

Baffler

They are really pushing the Hybrids not the Diesels. I don’t think all the green people are even considering the process for creating and disposing of batteries.
I am also tired of hearing how much better they are in the MPG range of city/highway. I drive all highway to work so I am not impressed with city numbers.
Please FORD, bring the Ford Fiesta ECOnetic – 65 MPG to Mexico and i will drive it here, because I unfortunately I don’t see it being made in the USA.

MontanaHeatseeker

I was chatting with a guy in the oil industry a while back about gas and deisel prices. Apparently, oil companies make most of their profit through plastic and pharmasudical sales. Gas and deisel are biproducts of producing plastics. Those biproducts are refined and sold as fuel. If we weren’t burning it in our cars the oil companies would have to find some other way to dispose of it. They should be paying us to take out their garbage! And to answer your question about the higher rate for deisel, it’s a sham. Deisel costs less to produce but the catch is that it is also more efficient. Since the US gets ALL of its roadways repaired and built through taxing the sale of fuel, the more efficient one gets a higher tax. This is also why those 75mpg engines that Volkswagen makes are illegal in the US. They don’t burn enough fuel to maintain the roads. So the next time you hear a politician whining about how Detroit should make more efficient cars, they are just blowing smoke. Detroit does make those awesome engines. They are just illegal to sell here.

Gustavo

Diesel is the crudest form of petrol. It should be cheaper, and it used to be. People are greedy, it is that simple.

Erniemunny

Explain how burning a gallon of diesel every 60 miles pollutes more than buring a gallon of diesel every 40 miles. Put another way, how can burning 1.5 gallons of diesel in 60 miles pollute less tha burning 1 gallon of diesel in 60 miles?

baffler

I am not sure if i understand but my input would be…
Weekly Round trip to work is 300 miles.
Yearly Round trip to work is 15600 miles.
My diesel car gets 60 mpg that is 260 gallons a year.
My gas car gets 30 mpg that is 520 gallons a year.
I don’t care what the emissions levels are for both.
Burning half as much fule is better for Mother Earth
Burning half as much fuel is better for my wallet.

red rider

… (waits another moment to try and digest all this) Um, apart from the sometimes impolite but [hoped] well intentioned sentiments here, I guess I will have to side w/ the diesel crowd, but w/ a HUGE caveat — I ride to work into Seattle nearly every day [~ 25-28 miles] w/ a friend who owns a 2008 Mercedes 250 class CDI diesel … along w/ this use, we travel in his vehicle another 5-600 additional miles per month … We have a VERY underground [but HIGHLY intelligent] engineer friend nearby who supplies us w/ CMVB … @ an average cost per 200 gallon order of $1.95/US gallon … (while still making a profit of more than$.50 cents for his time and trouble) … Let’s see then … FIRSTLY, w/ some careful research and engineering, we are just a hint above 94/mpg @ highway (65 mph) road speds, and literally STUCK @78/mpg no matter WHAT kind of city driving we do … SECONDLY … for those of you worried about No2/x issues, we are @ a ppm out @ decimal 5 (.00007 %) using averaged out/rpm calculations of 1768/rpm … friends @ both Boeing & Bridgestone spent more than a few hundred hours helping us procure VERY high DRE (documented rolling efficiency) tires that calculate out to ~ 9% / 7.4 mpg of total numbers for any given period. Yes, they are NOT from Les Schwab, but we are expecting 125-175K miles for them …per tire cost of $433.- The GISt of all this is, that w/ some SERIOUS calculating and research, “big iron” Detroit and Atlantic Richfield are a TOTAL LOSER w/ us … we BURN less, polute INCREDIBLY LIKE NOTHING, and are beholding only to the smiles of friends who are proud to have completed a project like this. There ARE a LONG list of smaller issues we had to change/solve, but nothing monumental … we just used a LOT of scratch paper, a small amount of donations, and some very heartfelt thinking and were patient … I can think of @ least 2x when driving, that I tried to start the car when it was already running – hence, any issues of “ Is it QUIET ? “ laid to rest … it is literally “dead black quiet” … and not to ignore the performance crowd, we get ON and OFF the freeways quite nicely and ahead of MOST other Beemers and Accords ! This is a pure example of “ don’t give me that line that all I can expect is 30 mpg … that is TOTAL BULL and we can prove it … “ ~ The process to “national-ize “ this work is by nature slow and QUIET … Let us keep working and we will try and show you ALL some progress that WILL make that AMAZING difference everyone has been hoping for ! ………… Thanks for the ear, and chance to talk and vent a bit ……. :: George ::

not stupid

I drove all over Italy in a fiat diesel it never smelled & was much quit than any american car .Being a auto dealer I have been in a lot of different types of automobiles It is a simple case of corrupt american politics and gas companies.pretty simple